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Antares rocket launch heats up private space race

WATCH out, SpaceX, there’s a new commercial rocket in town.

Since the space shuttles retired in 2011, NASA has been contracting with private firms to deliver cargo – and eventually astronauts – to the International Space Station. California-based SpaceX became the first firm to resupply the ISS in October.

Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Virginia, is now entering the fray. On 21 April, its Antares launch vehicle lifted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia. The maiden flight was purely to test the rocket, which carried a mock cargo capsule with the same mass and dimensions as the Cygnus capsule it is designed to ferry.

After about 10 minutes, the capsule separated from the rocket and went into a temporary orbit. It will burn up on re-entry in about two weeks. A full test mission, in which a loaded Cygnus craft docks with the ISS, will follow.